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iTunes asking for backup password???

I am upgrading my iphone 4 to iOS 5. I backed up my phone (via iTunes 10.5) and downloaded and installed iOS 5. I am now going through the setup process and it is at the "Restore from iTunes Backup" step. I connect to iTunes and iTunes is prompting me for a password to "unlock your iPhone backup file." No I did not encrypt the iPhone backup, nor is it or was it checked in iTunes. I have tried my iTunes password, my 4 digit unlock code for the iPhone, and several other passwords. When I did the backup an hour ago I was not asked for a password. I am at a loss as to what it is.

iPhone 4

Posted on Oct 12, 2011 1:11 PM

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Posted on Aug 7, 2017 6:52 AM

OK, I will make it simple and clear (although this has been covered ad nauseum in the thread):

  • If you have an encrypted backup ("Encrypt Backup" is checked) it is encrypted because you or someone else checked "encrypt backup". Period. That is the only way it can become encrypted.
  • The "someone else" can be the administrator of a Microsoft Exchange email server if you have a company email account on your phone. There's at least one case where it was someone's daughter.
  • The first time you back up after it is checked the person who did the backup had to enter a password. Twice for confirmation.
  • The password entered that first time will be the backup password forever, unless you explicitly change it; even if it was entered 10 years ago. It will stay the same.
  • The password is more than a password; it is the encryption key, and is saved in the encrypted backup and the iOS device.
  • There is no way to bypass encryption, except to enter the correct passcode.
    • Backing up to a new computer will not bypass it.
    • Deleting the encrypted backups will not bypass it.
    • Buying or downloading software that claims to bypass it will not bypass it.
  • The good news is that you get unlimited guesses, and to speed up the process of guessing, uncheck Encrypt Backup and you will be prompted immediately. Most people who have succeeded have found it was a password that they had used elsewhere.
423 replies

Feb 14, 2016 9:52 AM in response to Sparker90

Sparker90 wrote:


This was super helpful! I tried every password I could think of that I had used on Apple (therefore would have upper and lower case) but not necessarily, try any passwords used for any account and hopefully one will work! Seems everyone is right and Apple have just grabbed passwords from anywhere (a bit scary!!)

IT is technologically impossible for Apple to have "grabbed passwords from anywhere" as most of the passwords that have been mentioned in this thread are not stored anywhere on your computer in plaintext. Any backup password was entered by someone, whether they remember doing it or not. If you truly believe that iTiunes can actually do that then dump your computer and never use another computer, because if Apple can do it then any program you install on your computer can do it, and you have no way to protect your personal information from anyone.

Feb 14, 2016 10:48 AM in response to Sparker90

Sparker90 wrote:


This was super helpful! I tried every password I could think of that I had used on Apple (therefore would have upper and lower case) but not necessarily, try any passwords used for any account and hopefully one will work! Seems everyone is right and Apple have just grabbed passwords from anywhere (a bit scary!!)


No, they aren't right at all. Apple has absolutely zero access to your iTunes backups and passwords.

You're being scared by fear mongers and ignorant people.

The only reason another account password would ever work is if you yourself had used that password for both that account AND your iTunes encrypted backup.

Only someone with physical access to your computer and iPhone can choose to enable an encrypted password.

May 13, 2016 4:03 AM in response to TJBUSMC1973

I have the same problem today after 4 years between the first segnalation of this problem! , with the aggravating circumstance that none of the suggested solutions works , because are all mistaked and only worked for lucky event...I'm sure no password I have choose today ...maybe 1 year before for another backup.....

.:ITunes make backup on your computer without asking for a password , but taking it automatically from, who knows where?, and after you ask for it

.....and then I lost the data , or rather are inside my computer and I can not download them . Even the assistance apple has not been able to help me , then :

UNTIL APPLE DOES NOT FACE THE PROBLEM NOT TRUST THE BACUP ON COMPUTER !

May 13, 2016 6:55 AM in response to geta

geta wrote:


I have the same problem today after 4 years between the first segnalation of this problem! , with the aggravating circumstance that none of the suggested solutions works , because are all mistaked and only worked for lucky event...I'm sure no password I have choose today ...maybe 1 year before for another backup.....

.:ITunes make backup on your computer without asking for a password , but taking it automatically from, who knows where?, and after you ask for it

.....and then I lost the data , or rather are inside my computer and I can not download them . Even the assistance apple has not been able to help me , then :

UNTIL APPLE DOES NOT FACE THE PROBLEM NOT TRUST THE BACUP ON COMPUTER !



No, iTunes does NOT create an initial encrypted backup without your permission. To create an encrypted backup, you must first create a password. There are no if, ands or buts about it. It does NOT happen. It has NEVER happened. An encrypted iTunes backup had user input. Period.


However, if you previously encrypted a device backup, and then have automatic backups enabled, then it would update that backup, and that updated backup would still be encrypted, using the most recent password you used, or from when you first encrypted the backup.


Any and all reports of iTunes making an (initial) encrypted backup without user input are completely, totally and categorically false.

May 13, 2016 1:21 PM in response to TJBUSMC1973

it is useless to get angry!

I solved the problem without any help from Apple. I confirm that the backup was made 12/5 without any request for keyword and with the unchecked checkbox. To restore the backup file made on 12 / 5 called a keyword. I tried to use the a backup file of the 11/15. It was loaded without a password but the procedure after about one hour is blocked and was not successful. After I found the password entered on the occasion of the 11/15 backup and with that I managed to do the restore. Then:

Itunes has entered without any request the password used in the previous backup even if the option box was not checked.(if I had ed the box would be required a password, I would have easily remembered!) Maybe also was checked and I have not saw it....But why ? To uncheck it by default would be better!!! ... also better would be explane this problem to call center staff. Having to arrive alone, without any help, denotes that there is a problem that is not solved by dogmatic and self-righteous claims.

May 13, 2016 1:25 PM in response to geta

Once you select an Encrypted backup method, it remains an Encrypted backup method until you turn it off by unchecking the box and supplying the password that was used to begin the Encryption process.


There is nothing to explain to the Call Center staff, and the responses are not dogmatic and self-righteous, just the facts:


About encrypted backups in iTunes - Apple Support


No one is mad. Just emphasizing that Encrypted backups do not set themselves up....


Cheers,


GB

Jun 27, 2016 12:41 AM in response to typewriter_on_LSD

GUYS......Please try to remember all the passwords used in your life with all combinations.


As this is a Itunes bug which automatically encrypts the file even if you didn't setup the password.


This bug encrypted my data from the jobsite password which I used in the past. Luckly I save everything in my Notes (Iphone) and eventually sync to Gmail account.


Try this helpful step.


I recovered my Files after 2 days of fight.


Cheers.........🙂

Jul 28, 2016 10:13 AM in response to wsucoug95

Hi all,

Just had this issue on iPhone 6s, tried all suggestions but what worked was a password i use for a few websites and accounts that i have Never used for my apple ID.! No idea how or where itunes got this password but my suggestion is to try any password you use for other sites etc.. I tried many passwords and it didn't lock me out so keep guessing.


Daz

Jul 28, 2016 2:10 PM in response to Da3a

Da3a wrote:


No idea how or where itunes got this password but my suggestion is to try any password you use for other sites etc.. I tried many passwords and it didn't lock me out so keep guessing.


iTunes doesn't "get" passwords from anywhere. If you think about it a bit passwords are not stored in unencrypted form in any specific place on your computer, so unless iTunes scanned your entire disk and knew which of the hundreds of millions of text strings on it were passwords and which weren't what you are suggesting is impossible. The only way iTunes will know a password for encrypting a backup is if you enter it in response to a prompt to enter it.

Jul 28, 2016 2:24 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks for the response but it wasn't really a question, I just wrote what happened in the hope it might help someone else, the password I used to load my backup (unencrypted and never ask to set a password on backup) was a password I've used but not for my apple account or my windows login. itunes must have "got" it from somewhere. No idea where, I made the back up minutes before attempting to restore it, never asked for a password when I backed up.

Jul 28, 2016 2:34 PM in response to Da3a

Da3a wrote:


itunes must have "got" it from somewhere.

That's correct, it got it from whoever typed it in.


Da3a wrote:


I made the back up minutes before attempting to restore it, never asked for a password when I backed up.

iTunes never asks for a password when backing up. The password prompt is a separate, one-time step that you (or someone) initiated in iTunes.

iTunes asking for backup password???

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